I don't really buy anything consumer electronics related on financing so I can't really comment on that.

For the money you're looking at, I would say the best options are the Canon SD100, Canon A70, Nikon Coolpix 3100, Sony P72, Pentax Optio S and Minolta Dimage Xt.

The Dimage Xt, Optio S and SD100 are all pocket sized, with the Dimage Xt being the smallest and the SD100 the bigges. They're all pretty tiny though. All have similar features as far as manual controls and such go, which is to say kind of basic.

The Nikon is a little bigger than the pocket cameras and has a few more features but its video mode can't record sound. Honestly though I haven't really used the video mode on my camera (mine can record sound) hardly ever.

The Sony and Canon A70 are a bit chunkier. The P72 has about the same features as the Nikon, the A70 has a lot more.

So--if you want a pocket camera then any of the choices would be cool, a not-so-big one I would get the 3100 and for the most features I'd get the A70.